The RESTORE4Cs Spatial Decision-Support Toolbox that will help prioritise coastal wetlands restoration in Europe

RESTORE4Cs Policy Brief 10

The collection of multi-language Policy Briefs from the RESTORE4Cs Project (https://www.restore4cs.eu/resources/policy-briefs), provides best practices and science-based knowledge on European coastal wetlands restoration, gathered across 6 case studies and over three years of project.

Policy Brief #10 supports the prioritisation of coastal wetland restoration in Europe, by providing a Spatial Decision-Support Toolbox that can inform decisions and help develop well-defined restoration measures.

In fact, what is essential in order to prioritise wetlands as restoration objectives, is spatially explicit information about their status, as requested under the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR). The Toolbox offers a harmonised, science-based, user-friendly solution, that integrates ecological, climatic, and socio-economic data.

Through the use of this Toolbox, consisting of a geo-analytical platform accessible online, it will be easier to identify areas where restoration is most needed, and to develop replicable and spatially explicit methods for resource allocation.

To read more details about this tools, and the recommendations for Policy Makers, download the full document at this link: https://www.restore4cs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/EN_Policy-Brief-10-v4_Final.pdf

Are cave-sediment bacteria reacting to climate change?

cave-sediment bacteria

Karst subterranean cave sediments are vulnerable habitats, hosting microbial communities that provide crucial services, such as nutrient cycling and pollutant degradation.

So far, these systems have not been studied adequately at the microbial functional level, yet, although karst aquifers currently contribute around 25% of the world’s drinking water. Rather than passive deposits, cave sediments are dynamic microbial habitats that influence fundamental biogeochemical processes through nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon cycling.

A new study on cave microbiology addresses this gap, co-authored by LifeWatch Slovenia member Janez Mulec (Karst Research Institute – ZRC SAZU), together with Lejla Pašić (Sarajevo Medical School – University Sarajevo School of Science and Technology) and Andreea Oarga-Mulec (Materials Research Laboratory – University of Nova Gorica).

The paper, recently published in Frontiers in Microbiology, highlights how cave-sediment bacteria in the the Slovenian eLTER Postojna-Planina Cave System site respond to environmental change, examining key environmental factors such as sediment age and short-term environmental variability.

Slovenian researchers are trying to understand whether these factors have any influence on substrate degradation, taxonomic composition, and on the metabolic potential of bacterial communities. In the midst of hydroclimatic extremes such as floods, droughts, and rising cave temperatures, it is fundamental to understand if these communities are capable of adapting to climate change.

The paper examines two types of sediments that host these microbial habitats: alluvial sediments recently deposited, subject to hydrological and geochemical variability, and ancient palaeo-river deposit, the latter still under-investigated in comparison to the first type, despite its potential to tell us a lot more about microbial ecological functions.

The authors have shown that older sediments can actually function as a geochemical filter: the palaeo-deposit exhibited low taxonomic and functional diversity alongside elevated heavy metal concentrations, consistent with constraints on microbial functioning under long-term geochemical stress. Adaptive traits have been revealed in key taxa, such as Polaromonas, Methylibium, and Beggiatoa.

The study integrates functional and taxonomic approaches, using metagenomic analysis, community-level physiological profiling (CLPP), and sediment geochemistry to assess the roles of sediment age, oxygen availability and temperature, as well as the potential of the microbial communities for applied environmental use.

Read the full article: (DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1724116).

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026

Women and girls in science 2026

On 11 February, LifeWatch ERIC joins the global celebrations to raise awareness on the important initiative of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Every year, we have the privilege of working with excellent women scientists, and sometimes we get a chance to feature them in our videos, where they share their knowledge and experience first-hand. To honour this day, we have curated a special Women in Science selection on LifeWatching TV, bringing together and republishing a series of interviews with women researchers.

This collection offers but a glimpse into the impact of women’s contribution on biodiversity and ecosystem research, fields where they often remain underrepresented. We invite you to explore these contents covering topics such as Digital Twins, FAIR data, coastal wetlands restoration, biological invasions, and much more!

The full selection is available here: https://www.lifewatching.tv/women-in-science.

We have also dedicated a special section within our podcast series. You can access it by clicking on the tag “Women in Science”: https://www.lifewatch.eu/podcasts. Enjoy the conversations!

About the International Day of Women and Girls in Science:

This initiative started in 2015, during the inaugural High-Level World Women’s Health and Development Forum, organised by the Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT), and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA): https://www.womeninscienceday.org/our-history.html.

The Outcome Declaration of the Forum focused on women’s health and development, reaffirming the importance of physical and mental health of girls and women as a planetary approach to sustainable development, the crucial role of country leadership, and the importance to tackle aspects such as global maternal mortality, uneven progress, gender differences in media representation, among many others.

Every year since 2015 (last year marked the 10th anniversary), this day is internationally celebrated and continues growing global awareness and visibility on the achievements of women in science, and on the need for full and equal access to STEM roles for women and girls.

WoRMS and AlgaeBase: a story of collaboration supporting algal taxonomic research

Taxon match

WoRMS (https://www.marinespecies.org) the World Register of Marine Species supported by LifeWatch Belgium, and AlgaeBase have been collaborating since 2013. Recently, their collaboration has led to a new result: building on the widely used WoRMS taxon-match tool, a dedicated version developed for AlgaeBase has been made available through the LifeWatch Belgium eLab.

AlgaeBase (https://www.algaebase.org) is a database of algae information, including terrestrial, marine and freshwater algae and seagrasses. It was funded in 1996 by the Irish Higher Education Authority’s Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions, and has been maintained since then – mainly through private funds – in support of taxonomic studies. Currently, the database contains over 183,200 species and infraspecific names, supplemented with more than 24,000 images, over 75,000 bibliographic items and more than 611,000 distributional records.

The platform includes several features such as Species Search, Genus Search, Literature Search, and a rich library of images, as well as information about species’ common names, their distribution and more. AlgaeBase also has its own peer-reviewed online journal, Notulae Algarum, as part of its services to the Phycological Community.

Since 2013, thanks to the joint efforts between WoRMS and AlgaeBase, the taxonomic names of marine, freshwater and terrestrial algae have been included in Aphia (WoRMS infrastructure), which allowed WoRMS to further complete its overview of all described marine species.

The synergy and open communication between the two entities has continued, and since 2019 WoRMS has been integrating AlgaeBase content through regular cycles of data harvesting. This mutual collaboration has now led to the creation of AlgaeBase Taxon Match: a dedicated adaptation of the WoRMS taxon-match tool, specifically tailored for AlgaeBase.

As the name suggests, the tool allows the matching of species and infraspecies as part of the LifeWatch Belgium eLab infrastructure, runs directly on AlgaeBase and, importantly, can be combined with other taxon-matching services.

Read more and find out how to access this service on LifeWatch Belgium: https://www.lifewatch.be/news/taxon-match-tool-algaebase-based-worms-taxon-match

Virtual Research Environments and Essential Variables: join LifeWatch ERIC at EGU 2026

EGU 2026

The General Assembly of the European GeoSciences Union (EGU) takes place in Vienna from 3 to 8 May 2026: one of the biggest conferences on environmental and earth sciences.

Every year, the event brings together around 20,000 geoscientists from all over the world, covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences. The EGU aims to provide a forum where scientists, especially early career researchers, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geoscience.

LifeWatch ERIC is taking an active part in this year’s conference, participating in one session, and co-organising another session and a training:

  • The first session, “Co-creating Climate Services: Linking Essential Variables with Actionable Decision Support“, is organised by the ENVRI-Hub Next project, where LifeWatch ERIC is involved in different areas, including training. The session is inspired by the current work in the project, where Essential Variables (EVs) play a key role. It will explore the technical, infrastructural, and policy advancements required to make EVs the foundational language for global environmental cooperation. The session conveners and co-conveners invited scientists, data engineers, social scientists, and policymakers to connect the “essential” with the “actionable”, forging a coherent path from global observation to local solution: https://www.egu26.eu/session/57662
  • Within the context of ENVRI-Hub NEXT, LifeWatch ERIC is also organising a training session (https://www.egu26.eu/session/56062) with trainers Kety Giuliacci , representing INGV and EPOS, and with Zhiming Zhao (Uva/LifeWatch ERIC) and Eleonora Parisi from LifeWatch ERIC. The training, in the form of a short course, will consist in live demonstrations, guided practice, and discussions on how to harness the ENVRI-Hub for interdisciplinary research. You can join the session on 7 May, from 08:30 to 10:15 CEST in Room 2-82, and express your interest through the following form: https://forms.gle/84mPeEDQ53ZbveRQA
  • The second session is titled “Bridging Earth Science Research through Integrated e-Infrastructures and Virtual Research Environments (VREs): From Digital Services to Digital Twins“. Co-convened by Jacco Konijn (LifeWatch ERIC VLIC), it focuses on Virtual Research Environments in Earth and Environmental science, which are at the heart of LifeWatch ERIC services. This session aims to highlight how interoperable e-Infrastructure services can be used to build VREs and Virtual Labs to provide end-to-end support, strengthening research capacity through collaboration between service providers and scientists.
  • Contributions selected for this session will demonstrate practical examples of how digital services, VREs and e-infrastructures enhance research workflows in Earth and environmental science, present innovative integration approaches, highlight technical implementations, and share lessons learnt and new challenges: https://www.egu26.eu/session/56062
  • Members of LifeWatch ERIC’s VLIC will also present in this session the poster “A Maturity Model for Facilitating Virtual Lab’s Co-Development“, proposing a Virtual Lab Maturity Model that facilitates a common language across disciplines and ensures alignment with FAIR principles.

For more information on EGU 2026 visit the official event page: https://www.egu26.eu